Huangshan Maofeng
An Anhui green tea of slightly curled, downy leaves from the Huangshan range, brewing unusually delicate and orchid-scented for a pan-fired Chinese green. It is one of the teas most consistently named in traditional Chinese famous-tea lists.
Character
Softer and more floral than Longjing, with an orchid note that is the tea’s signature. Very low in astringency even when brewed carelessly.
- Flavour
- Floral, Nutty, Sweet
- Aroma
- Orchid
- Mouthfeel
- Light, Smooth
- Complexity
- Moderate
- Notes
- orchid, fresh corn, light chestnut
- Aftertaste
- Sweet, floral and lingering longer than its weight suggests.
Delicate intensity: light in the mouth with little grip. forgiving of a long steep.
Provenance and production
- Origin
- China
- Oxidation
- Unoxidised
- Harvest
- First flush
- Processing
- Withering → Kill-green (fixation) → Drying
History
Created in the 1870s by a Huangshan tea house seeking a product for the growing Shanghai market. Like Keemun a few years later, it is a deliberate nineteenth-century commercial invention rather than an inherited tradition.
Brewing
Western brewing (teapot or mug)
1.5–2.5 g/100 ml · 75–85 °C · 1 authored infusion
Grandpa style
0.5–1 g/100 ml · 75–85 °C · 1 authored infusion
Gongfu brewing (gaiwan)
3–4 g/100 ml · 75–85 °C · 4 authored infusions
No caffeine estimate is authored for this tea. TeaHQ does not infer one from its category, because category predicts caffeine poorly — matcha and gyokuro carry more than many black teas.
Common mistakes
- Boiling water, which flattens the orchid character entirely
If you like this
Grouped by why they were suggested, strongest reason first. Nothing here is a blended score — a suggestion appears under the best reason that exists for it, and never under a weaker one as well.
Editorially linked
Someone wrote down why these two belong together. The note below is theirs.
- Meng Ding Gan Lu
Two soft, orchid-scented Chinese greens with very low astringency.
- Tian Mu Qing Ding
Two mountain greens from neighbouring provinces with similar orchid-and-chestnut character. Huangshan has the reputation; the other is rarely named.
Similar sensory profile
Shares controlled flavour, aroma and mouthfeel descriptors. A looser match — two teas can share descriptors and still taste nothing alike.
- Bai Ji Guan
Shares 6 descriptors with Huangshan Maofeng: sweet, floral, nutty, light, smooth and orchid.
- Huang Jin Gui
Shares 5 descriptors with Huangshan Maofeng: floral, sweet, light, smooth and orchid.
- Longjing
Shares 5 descriptors with Huangshan Maofeng: nutty, sweet, light, smooth and orchid.
- Meng Ding Huang Ya
Shares 5 descriptors with Huangshan Maofeng: sweet, nutty, floral, light and orchid.
- Wuyuan Ming Mei
Shares 5 descriptors with Huangshan Maofeng: nutty, floral, light, smooth and orchid.
- Alishan oolong
Shares 4 descriptors with Huangshan Maofeng: floral, sweet, smooth and orchid.